FRANCE HAS been plunged into emotional trauma with the news that its national icon - rock-singer Johnny Hallyday - is to leave for self-imposed exile in Switzerland in order to escape the country's punitively high income tax.

The 63-year-old performer - often dubbed France's Elvis - said last week that he is about to move to his chalet in Gstaad with wife Laetitia and adopted Vietnamese daughter Jade because he is tired of surrendering nearly three-quarters of his salary to the exchequer.

"The bottom line is that I am sick of paying I believe that after all the work I have done over nearly 50 years, my family should be able to live in some serenity. But 70% of everything I earn goes on taxes," he told Paris-Match magazine.

"Everyone knows the sad financial reality in our country. Am I obliged to suffer the incompetence of the people in charge? My answer is no. With all I've given to the state - all the time I've been sweating away at the grindstone - they could have bought themselves a new aircraft-carrier."

Hallyday, whose real name is Jean-Philippe Smet, is far from being the first high-earner to leave France for friendlier climes. In Switzerland he will be joining well-known names such as actor Alain Delon, racing driver Alain Prost and tennis champion Amelie Mauresmo.

But his superstar status ensured that the story of his exile spent much of last week in the headlines, and on radio talk shows guests opined gloomily on the prospects of "une France sans Johnny".

The timing of his announcement - just four months before the country votes for a new president - means that tax policy is now at the heart of the election campaign, especially after the singer also made clear he will gladly return to France if the right-wing candidate Nicolas Sarkozy is the winner.

Long a friend of President Jacques Chirac, Hallyday recently switched his allegiance to the 51-year-old interior minister and ruling party chief, who is the co-favourite alongside the socialist Segolene Royal, 53, to become France's next leader.

The reactions of the two candidates to the veteran singer's impending departure exemplified the chasm that separates them. For Sarkozy, who has long argued that France's high taxes are driving the ambitious to emigrate to London and elsewhere, the news was more proof of the need for change.

"When so many of our artists, our creators, our researchers so many people say they have to leave, that can only mean that there is indeed a problem. It would be nice if people thought they could stay in France even when they've made a success out of their lives," Sarkozy said.

For Royal, Hallyday's decision was a deplorable act of betrayal. "When you earn a huge amount of money, you have to give an example. There are so many poor people in France that what we need is solidarity. Taxes have to be paid. In France if we have good hospitals, schools, good public services, trains that run on time and good roads, it is thanks to taxes that people pay," she said.

Royal's policies are already under the spotlight after the Socialist Party leader François Hollande - who is also the candidate's partner - vowed last week to roll back tax cuts introduced by Chirac and introduce a new levy to fund pensions. An embarrassed Royal had to cancel two press conferences in order to avoid journalists' questions.

Hallyday's travails were compounded by a court decision on Wednesday, rejecting his claim for the original recordings of some 1000 songs made over 42 years for the music company Universal. Hallyday broke his contract with Universal after a row in 2003, in which he accused the company of making him financially dependent via a series of unscrupulous loans.

Hallyday wanted back the originals of such hits as 1964's Le Penitencier, and 1985's Quelque Chose De Tennessee, but in an important test case the high court of appeal said the company should retain the rights as a due return for its investment in the artist.

Hallyday is currently recording his first studio album for his new company, Warner Music.